Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-09-07

WEDNESI
wholly emancipated from that underlined un.
reasonable, yet all pervading and inherited rever
ence for omens, wierd condolences, some one or
more OF the thusand tradtion-hallowed signs, the
bowling OF a disconsolate cur, the inopportune
Growing OF fowls, the accidental attitude OF the
body on ilrst viewing the new moon; dreams OF
| the dead, Of serpentS, or OF muddy water, the
accidental fracture OF the family mirror.
splitting innocent salt at tabls the dropping OF
host Of equally irrational deiusions Of the fancy,
| which are our cowardly confessions that We have
not quite surrendered our fetichism. 1t is quoted
that the days OF the cruder mythoOg1es are past,
peopled with dsities. Every Imaginable calling
aaa IL patron and every RSssaS
over by sort Of Defined specialist Group by group
and maize by name, at least in name this phantom
Tonaus, With his fabulous bolts; menow-eyed, but
impossible Juno, with her human loves and frantic
ana Hg; me
sustaner and Silva, the executioner, have all been
handed over to the historical embalmer.
| error and uncertainty must be swept from the
medical skies New faiths are struggling to be
sc The sisns are dying We
| the advent OF the new. TO this must we adjust
our philosophy, since behind It there is the unde-
| UdtslUlc anu TcSlStl6SS logic Oh history.
at is not very long since disease was held to be
an evil spirit, which 1t was necessary TO exercise
by Incarnation, necromancy and living sacrifice;
by philters, conJuration and mummery. Later, it
was held to be a wild beast, TO be met and con-
Quered by counter-beastS or by similar beasts! It
Is not yet universally admitted TO be an accidental
or incidental obstruction, disturbance OF natural
function and the resultant reaction OF vital force,
struggling intuitively, OFTEN bndy, to restore to
be disputed that there yet prevails a large meas
ure OF faith in kind OF matertalized magic and n
medical specifics: Only the thinkers Of
that there is no virtue In the gibberish
OF the aboriginal the poisc OF the magicans wand,
tne iSa Of sne the
ever, unhesitatingly admit that specific nedlca-
ton, once so plausible, is but baseleSS, unscIen-
universally OF the law that action and reaction
are equal, one to the other; that the angles OF In
c1dence and reflection always CONVERGE that heat,
force and motion are correlated and interconverti.
Bile; that gain In one direction implies and COM
pels exact compensation In another; and that,
hence, power and vitality may be either diverted,
commuted or wasted; but never, In any sense re-
produced or created II is but a step further, in
cal cor0llary, that, beyond the removal or physio-
logical distractions and 1nterferences the COM
pless supplying OF physiological needs, and the
fussy and meddlesome therapeutics are for the
most part, worse than useless, and too frequently
between action and reaction there Is perpetual
equipoise, so stimulation and depression are the
opposed extremes OF an eQui-balanced beam; the
anaeSthettc and the anodyne yield their seductive
spell only In return for full and exact equiva-
lent OF vital energy.
tionethe Unavoidable though as vet unasse ge
sequence that, not by all the necromancy OF the
alchemist or conJurer, nor by the science OF the
astutest professor will nature be cheated OF 1ot
OF time or molecule OF matter, but Furnishes
every would-be htghwayman with the often de-
tayed put always adequate andinexorable penalty
OF his every and however secret crime.
"a NEW GOSPEL OF HEALING DEMANDED
ut Is daily becoming more and more evident that
new dispensation and gospel of healing is now
incisively demanded. Its decalogue has not yet
been carved on possible Sinai OF medical science
The Martin Luther OF the movement has not yet
darkness; but already, from the debris OF decay
Ing systems may be gathered scattered fragments,
ambitious student Of today to interpres and ars
range. The vedettes the far outposts are steth-
oscOping the future, and these are the pectrtlo-
4he age Is IN labor. Let the mdwives jealousy
look to the offspring. The parturtent mother will
need no Gredean tinkertng a. their mercury-coa1ed
not panaceaS but penalties; therefore there Is
neither reprieve nor pardon, save through eeasing
TO tranSRreSS.
Mature exacts an eye for an eye, a tooth for a
tooth, blood for blood or, for each, its material
equivalent; hence there is no vicarious atonement
"'TO borrow from to-mOrrow'S store OF vitality Is
possible; but let no man hope to escape repay
ment with added and compounded interest
own hoard
"'The objectionable sins are crimes against Ma
turev
admitting these postulates to be akin to tru-
tsms, the logical sequence may be thus stated:
beyond the supplying Of direct or indirect nutri-
structions human skillis powerless to add single
nervethrOD or beat to the vital stock OF any
organism. In other words, aside from the re-
anyo1 nf oil
with functional activity. and the supplying OF the
needed elements for growth, sustenance and re-
pair IN Gheir most available FORM there Is no sub
medicine, mystery or moonshine-which can be
made to add single moment to the life or SIN
being: - ''''~ ~ Wv - ' '''''''-'
MEDICAL NAKEsHIFTs.
''ThiS seems incredible and nihiliSttc To prove
that 1t Is neither, let briefly inquire into the
nature OF remedies, so-called, first dtsmissing
mass OF MEDICAL rubbish which has all along
passed for medical art. Irefer to that quintessma
OF aesthetic charlatanism which consistsin pander-
ing to and patching the sensations OF patients.
nameless myriads Of placebos, anOdynes, hypnO-
tics, and sedatives, and thus peremptor1ly dis.
poses OF OF all the common place ef-
forts currently paraded under the miSnomer OF
medical skill Ali these make-shifts are insidious
unsc1entif1c, and delusive palliators, and In not
induce their alleged desirable results Indirectly,
and with questionable margin OF reservation.
It requires an aStute judgment to promptly decide
when they are and when not the lesser OF two
evils. They are essentially and invariably subst1-
tuteS for or 1nStlgatorS OF vital reactions.
'If we reason from the logical truiSm that every
material substance, solid, fluid or a,rtfOrm, when
taken into the SYSTEM is either food, mere rubbish
or actual poison, what basis have we for assuming
to cure morbid manifestations termed disease by
exhibiting alleged 'remedieS?
''Our inherited iunacy OF logic makes US assume
that this or that substance has certain affinity
for this or that organ, tissue or outlet We teach
and try to believe that 1t expendS its force an
Inhibit0r OF this or that set OF nerve terminals
has primary and secondary effects; interrupts
this or that reflex This Is but the old gibberish
rewritten and set to modern music. The only
notable change from the old mytholog1es is mere
change OF costume. The deitieS now invoked are
represented, not BY Drazen images and carvings
equations. The modern fame Is q laboratory; the
later altar dlssecttnE table. True, we no longer
ask the stars but pin our faith TO the distortions
OF the microscope the muff1ed echoes OF the ieX1-
meter, the uncertain trac1ngS OF the sphygmo-
graph and the signing murmurs OF the stethO-
scope. From these We gather our OracleS, inter.
preting then each according to his personal lido
syncraSy or mere individual whin. Even food can
never be- IN an active Sense, factor. It Is as
passive as the wool that goes to the cards. The
vital forces with their lnitleSs and ittle-under-
tors; always excepting mere mechanical results
such as gravity, momentum, d1stens1On, penetra-
ton and the like as also limited range or direct
chemical afinittes and even these In the presence
OF the living forces ara materially abridged, mOd-
ned or retarded; and also excepting q yet hypo-
ghetical degree OF germtcidal power; drugs OF
whatever nature, never act, but are themselves